landbeforetimefandomcom-20200216-history
User blog:NanoLancensis/Five Universes: A Land Before Time Theory
A text version of a theory I considered during my latest (and will be last) The Land Before Time marathon; this came to me when I started thinking about how much all of the movies like to contradict each other. Starting off with what I consider to be the one true universe: Universe 1: Original This universe only contains the original movie; not a single one of the sequels or episodes of the television series are canon. Canon movies: #''The Land Before Time'' Standout species Littlefoot and his mother.png|''Apatosaurus'' Dimetrodon flicking tongue.png|''Dimetrodon'' Struthiomimus first movie.png|''Ornithomimus'' Flyer family.png|"pterodactyls" Duckys family.png|''Saurolophus''/''Anatosaurus'' Shifty Spike.png|''Stegosaurus'' Mama and Daddy Topps alarmed.png|''Triceratops'' Freaky Sharptooth.png|''Tyrannosaurus'' Rooter.png|"turtle-like dinosaur" Hypsilophodon original movie.jpg|''Velociraptor'' (Universal's brand, anyway) Some characteristics (world): *Though no shots from space are given to show the setting of the film, the main creatures in the film are, for the most part, from western North America; the amount of animals from this part of the world that are depicted in the film point at the film being set in North America, presumably during the Late Cretaceous. *The Great Valley's skies are a patchwork of pastel colors; blues, yellows, oranges, purples and pinks. The foliage is vibrant green with some hints of blue and yellow, while the ground is a mix of pinks and greens. The landscape shielded by the bordering mountains is soft and rounded with well-trimmed grass - like a big, prehistoric golf course. *On the other hand, the lands surrounding the valley (which don't have a name) are bathed with skies of red, orange and yellow, with the occasional splotch of blue. The ground is reddish-orange, with what little foliage there is being orange and yellow from drought. The terrain is rocky and craggy, filled with cliffs, mountains - including "mountains that burn" - and rock formations. *Generally not the most pleasant place to live; next to no greenery outside of the Great Valley, hostile terrain, constant threat of predation, and increasingly inhospitable conditions. *Chances are that the great drought depicted in the movie is the catalyst for the extinction at the Cretaceous/Paleogene boundary (meaning there isn't an asteroid in this universe), and - after the credits roll - the world outside of the Great Valley continues to dry until the dinosaurs out there go extinct, leaving mammals to take over the world. Some characteristics (characters, creatures): *Littlefoot's father is almost certainly dead, as is everyone else in Littlefoot's herd. *Cera's entire family survives to the end of the movie, despite what just about everyone in the fandom will tell you. *Cera's behavior can be attributed to her father; she isn't a mean or bad girl, she just doesn't have a very good role model. *I don't recall Petrie ever using "me" in place of "I", his odd grammar feels more dynamic than in the sequels. *Just the mention of the word "sharptooth" is enough to cause a panic; sharpteeth, specifically Sharptooth himself, are feared by all, and rightfully so, given how ruthless they are. *Tyrannosaurs are big-pupiled, dark-scaled, red-eyed monsters, stopping at nothing to get at their prey and not showing a sliver of sympathy to their food. *Apatosaurs keep their tails off of the ground a lot of the time, as do the Triceratops. Universe 2: Roy Allen Smith Only contains the Roy Allen Smith sequels; though I think these are closer in tone to the original movie than the later ones, I don't get the feeling that the first movie's events factor into the films at all. Canon movies: #''The Land Before Time'' (disputable, I'm not even sure if a version of the movie's events happened) #''The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure'' #''The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving'' #''The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists'' Standout species Mr Clubtail drinking.png|''Ankylosaurus'' Dil.png|''Deinosuchus'' Hyp III.png|''Hypsilophodon'' BraggingIchy.png|''Ichthyornis'' Mr Spikethumb dismissive.png|''Iguanodon'' The Taunting Mutt.png|''Muttaburrasaurus'' Nod III.png|''Nodosaurus'' This Struthiomimus wont settle for the dregs.png|''Struthiomimus'' Deinons go after Mutts dad.png|''Velociraptor'' MKII Some characteristics (world): *Still no shots from orbit to imply where the movies take place, though it can be presumed that they take place in the same setting as the original movie; however, with the addition of animals that aren't from western North America (e.g. Hypsilophodon, Muttaburrasaurus, Iguanodon, and the Velociraptor if you refuse to interpret them as mislabeled Deinonychus), the possibility that the movies take place in North America is not quite as solid as it was in the original movie-only universe. *The Great Valley is much more of an untamed jungle or forest than it was in the original movie; gone are the freshly mowed lawns and spherical trees of the Bluth era, as they have been replaced with towering prehistoric trees, dense undergrowth and long, uncut grass. The color scheme of the Valley is also different, being more blue and yellow-tinted than pink and orange. The skies are typically blue, though they occasionally shift into being yellow or purple. *In the first two sequels, the lands beyond the walls of the Great Valley - puzzlingly established as "the Mysterious Beyond" in The Great Valley Adventure - are depicted as a horrific, grayed-out wasteland, littered with the skeletons of large dinosaurs with strangely-designed predators (be it the quilled raptors from III or a literal dragon in II) and bubbling natural traps around every corner. Some characteristics (characters, creatures): *Littlefoot's father and herd are still presumably dead, though his family has surviving relatives in the form of Ali and her herd. *Mama Topps and her kids may or may not still exist. *Cera is still the most temperamental of the five kids, but her additude is nowhere near as nasty as it was in the original movie. *First universe where Petrie's grammar is just simple, and not a mess of words. *Sharpteeth are still feared, and more variants than just the T. rex are introduced; 90's style, Jurassic Park-ripoff Velociraptor/''Deinonychus'' roam the lands, and flesh-eating alligators and birds patrol the marshes. Also of note are graveyard-dwelling chinese dragons and quilled dromaeosaurs. *A few of the new dinosaurs - such as the adult Stegosaurus and perhaps the raptors in III - are realizations of unused designs for the original movie. *Tyrannosaurs aren't as ruthless as they once were, their pupils are smaller and are shown expressing interest in defending their offspring. *An entire race has shifted what genus they are supposed to be; in spite of being Ornithomimus in the Bluth universe, the egg-eating ornithomimids in this universe are inexplicably Struthiomimus. *Tail-dragging is much more of a problem than last time. Universe 3: Pre-art shift An extension of the RAS universe, this universe also contains Charles Grosvenor's first two outings; allusions to Littlefoot's deceased mother and the main characters having once lived outside of the Great Valley mean that the first movie is unambiguously a part of this world. The existence of Chomper also ties the movies to the Roy Allen Smith-directed sequels. Canon movies: #''The Land Before Time'' #''The Land Before Time II: The Great Valley Adventure'' #''The Land Before Time III: The Time of the Great Giving'' #''The Land Before Time IV: Journey Through the Mists'' #''The Land Before Time V: The Mysterious Island'' #''The Land Before Time VI: The Secret of Saurus Rock'' Standout species LBT Allosaurus.png|''Allosaurus'' Cool Doc.png|''Diplodocus'' Plates the Giganotosaurus.png|whatever the theropod from the fifth movie is supposed to be Some characteristics (world): *Finally some clue as to where the main characters live; the opening narration of The Mysterious Island implies that they live somewhere in South Asia/India. *Some implication that the world is getting its green back on with the fact that the leafgobblers exist in the first place, and Doc saying that there are other valleys just as nice as the Great Valley. The Great Valley isn't special anymore. *The Great Valley isn't much different than it was in the RAS era, though its colors are much more saturated and yellow-tinted. The sky is blue and yellow in the day; in VI, there's occasionally a green tint to the sky. *The Mysterious Beyond/world outside the Valley is not as dire as it was in the first two sequels; it is still dry and barren, but it is no longer covered in skeletons and doesn't have death around every single corner. Three instances of extensive greenery in this wilderness - the Mysterious Island, a temporary home for the Valley residents and an abandoned subsection of the Great Valley itself - are explored. The lighting is a little less nice, but the skies are typically not any different than the ones above the kids' home. *When danger is afoot, the world itself occasionally reflects this; the sky turns an ominous shade of red and the lighting gets all dramatic. *Everything has a little bit of a barfy tint to it. *The ocean is visited, and is referred to as the ocean/sea by adult characters. "Big water" is very likely a term made up by the kids. Some characteristics (characters, creatures): *Still no word on Littlefoot's father's whereabouts, but a longneck that looks like his mother inexplicably shows up in V'' alive and well without any fanfare. *Mama Topps makes a potential cameo or two in ''V. *Cera has taken a level in b!#@&, though she is at least more entertaining. *Similarly, Spike is buffoon who doesn't care about anything but food. *Sharpteeth, for the most part, have gotten less competent and less scary, though one particular sharptooth in V'' harkens back to the days of the original Sharptooth. ''V spends its time trying to soften them and make them sympathetic, only to bury them alive in the following movie. *Tail-dragging is still an issue, and has gotten even more severe. *The Maiasaura design is noticeably different from the one in II and IV. Universe 4: Post-art shift A soft reboot for the series; it doesn't necessarily pick up where the first movie left off (in order for IX to make sense, the kids would have to have visited the "big water" in a previous, unseen adventure given that V'' doesn't exist), but that movie might just be the only previous movie canon to the ones below. '''Canon movies:' #A mauled version of The Land Before Time #''The Land Before Time VII: The Stone of Cold Fire'' #''The Land Before Time VIII: The Big Freeze'' #''The Land Before Time IX: Journey to Big Water'' #''The Land Before Time X: The Great Longneck Migration'' #''The Land Before Time XI: Invasion of the Tinysauruses'' #''The Land Before Time XII: The Great Day of the Flyers'' (debatable, would be in U5 if it didn't continue XI's Topps/Tria subplot) Standout species Raptors drooling at kids.png|''Deinonychus'' Rainbowfaces infobox.png|''Gallimimus''? Stenonychosaurus? A Stoned Apatosaurus Louisae.png|"Lazy apatos" Sharptooth swimmer head out of water.png|''Liopleurodon'' Guido XII.png|''Microraptor gui'' Happy little Mo.png|''Ophthalmosaurus'' Mr Thicknose VIII.png|''Pachyrhinosaurus'' Spinosaurus Roaring.png|''Spinosaurus'' Littlefoot and the Tinysauruses.jpg|''Tinysaurus'' X Tyrannosaurus 1.png|''Tyrannosaurus'' MKII Some characteristics (world): *Two more locations are given for the Great Valley; VII suggests it is in China, while XII posits that it is somewhere in Africa. *The world outside the Valley is - when not covered in snow - filled with wonderful, green environments with the occasional desert and/or wasteland. Combined with a flashback in X'' where everything is fresh and nice and green both before and ''immediately after the Great Earthshake, it's entirely possible that the terrible conditions from the first movie have been retconned out of existence. *The Great Valley - as a result of better art - is much more vibrant and lush than in any of the previous sequels (or even the first movie, dare I say). Unless it is smothered by snow in winter, it is very, very green, with a liberal coating of tropical plant life, and the sky is blue in daytime. The mountains bordering the valley are filled with jagged peaks, canyons, rivers, caves and at least one volcano. *The Mysterious Beyond is, as mentioned before, a far cry from how it was originally portrayed. Though it still has the occasional barren desert, and there is at least one instance of a wasteland with strange rock formations and some skeletons, there are no dire, graveyard-like, grayed out hell-holes as in the first few sequels, nor any dying or dead forests or intimidating volcanic regions as in the first movie. In general, the world outside the Great Valley - though not as lush and peppered with the occasional, decidedly unintimidating sharptooth - is much more welcoming than it once was. *Characters - particularly Ducky in VIII - understand what echoes are, contradicting Littlefoot and Ali's confusion in the cave in IV. *"Big Water" is now the official term for the ocean, after the usage of "ocean" and "sea" in V''. *Bizarrely, "Great Circle" is used instead of "Bright Circle" in reference to the sun. *"Great Beyond" is used over "Mysterious Beyond" in some instances. '''Some characteristics (characters, creatures):' *Littlefoot's father inexlicably exists, after presumably being dead in the context of I''. Also Littlefoot's mom is blue now. *It is unclear whether or not Cera's mother is still in the picture; Littlefoot directly alludes to her in ''XI, which angers Cera. Ducky's father is similarly absent. *Cera's character in these sequels - besides in X'' and ''XII - doesn't go much further than "angry and grumpy". *It is unclear whether or not the Great Valley had an indigenous population before VIII, but that movie established that it had inhabitants prior to the pilgrimage - one of which is Mr. Thicknose. *According to Bron's story in X'', apparently Rooter knew about Littlefoot's mother dying but either never met Littlefoot or forgot that he met him. Oops. *In a much more blatant defame of the original movie, after the Great Earthshake, the speciesist adults (sans Pterano, Petrie's uncle) decide to be buddies with each other. So much for there never having been such a herd before the formation of Littlefoot's posse. *The ''Tyrannosaurus are unrecognizable, to such a degree that they could be passed off as Albertosaurus without anyone batting an eye; their eyes are more human-like, they come in more colors, and they are slightly smaller. *''Deinonychus'' fill the niche Velociraptor filled in earlier universes. *As a rule, the tyrannosaurs in this universe are as threatening as a can of Play-Doh. Chances are that Universal offered them the same beverages during production that nerfed the Rex in Jurassic Park III. *According to Ducky's mother in VIII, no spiketails live in the Great Valley besides Spike. This tramples on just about every pre-art shift sequel. Universe 5: Whatever XIII, the TV series and JoTB are trying to accomplish A strange middle ground between all of the universes with some new elements (e.g. Ruby) thrown in; everything from the drought in III to the kids' journey to the ocean in the fourth universe to the horrible climax of VI to Littlefoot's mother being deceased are referenced. All of this sets the stage for a tonal dumpster fire. Canon movies: *Tiny slivers of everything else, mostly just characters *''The Land Before Time XIII: The Wisdom of Friends'' *''The Land Before Time'' television series *''The Land Before Time: Journey of the Brave'' Standout species Featherheads catch the kids scents.png|''Allosaurus'' MKII Baryonyx fall to their deaths.png|''Baryonyx'' Yellowbellies dancing on log.png|''Beipiaosaurus'' Carnotaur looking around.png|''Carnotaurus'' Acrocanthosaurus Pair TLBT.png|''Nothingosaurus'' The tumbling Wild Arms.png|''Nothronychus'' Impatient Ruby.png|''Oviraptor'' Some characteristics (world): *Again, two locations are suggested for the Great Valley; XIII posits that it is somewhere in east Asia, while Journey of the Brave proposes that it is on Victoria Island in the Canadian Arctic Archipelago of all places. *The Great Valley's beauty and plant population has taken a hit; the skies are still blue in the day-time and the plants are still green, but there is much less foliage than there is in the previous universe. *The world outside of the Great Valley is mixed; some times, it is depicted as a barren wasteland with only patches of greenery, while other times it is a tropical environment with the occasional desert or volcano. Though the sky is typically yellow or green in XIII, it rarely deviates from being blue in the television series or the 2016-released sorta-sequel. *"Big water" is still used as an umbrella term for the ocean, but "Bright Circle" has made its return as the term for the sun. Some characteristics (characters, creatures): *Littlefoot's father, Bron, returns from the tenth movie and appears in an episode of the TV series and Journey of the Brave. Cera's mother and Ducky's father are still AWOL, in spite of new anatosaurs/parasaurs/saurolops being hatched in JoTB. *Similarly, a whole host of characters from the sequels are present; among others, Chomper, Hyp and his two friends, Ali and her herd, Doc, Mo and Guido are present, in spite of some of their respective natal universes clashing with one another. *Characterization hasn't changed much since the post-art shift era. *''T. rex'' designs are held over from the post-art shift universe. *Threatening predators are next to nonexistent; Red Claw and his raptors are among the most incompetent threats in the entire franchise. *Petrie has never been near a smoking mountain prior to 'The Canyon of Shiny Stones', contradicting just about every time he's been in the vicinity (or literally inside; cough VII cough) of a volcano. Category:Blog posts